If anyone were to
attempt to answer these two questions authoritatively for all Reform Jews,
that person's answers would have to be false. Why? Because one of the
guiding principles of Reform Judaism is the autonomy of the individual.
A Reform Jew has the right to decide whether to subscribe to this particular
belief or to that particular practice.

But there is a historic
body of beliefs and practices that is recognized as Jewish. We Jews have
survived centuries of exile and persecution as well as centuries of unparalleled
spiritual and intellectual creativity because we have always thought of
ourselves as a people created "in the image of God," dedicated to tikkun
olam -- the improvement of the world. And the particular beliefs and
practices that have traditionally identified us as Jews have enabled us
not only to survive creatively but to connect with the God "who has kept
us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment."

We Reform Jews
are heirs to a vast body of beliefs and practices embodied in TORAH and
the other Jewish sacred writings. We differ from more ritually observant
Jews because we recognize that our sacred heritage has evolved and adapted
over the centuries and that it must continue to do so. And we also recognize
that if Judaism were not capable of evolution, of REFORM, it could not
survive.

Reform Judaism
accepts and encourages pluralism. Judaism has never demanded uniformity
of belief or practice. But we must never forget that whether we are Reform,
Conservative, Reconstructionist, or Orthodox, we are all an essential
part of K'lal Yisrael -- the worldwide community of Jewry.

All Jews have
an obligation to study the traditions that have been entrusted to
us and to observe those mitzvot -- those sacred and time-hallowed acts
-- that have meaning for us today and that can ennoble our lives, as well
as those of our families and communities. It is our mitzvot that put us
in touch with Abraham and Sarah; with Moses, Hillel, and the Jews of fifth-century
Babylonia, twelfth-century Spain, and eighteenth-century Poland; and with
the Jews of twentieth-century Auschwitz, Israel, the former Soviet Union,
and our neighboring town.